Jacks opened and shut his mouth as if he could barely get the words out. “I couldn’t. When I got there, he had already bitten you—and he’d already taken too much blood. You died as soon as you were in my arms. The only thing I could do was use the stones to turn back time. I was warned that it would cost me something. But I thought it would cost me. I didn’t imagine it would take from you.”
I’m sorry, he thought.
“You don’t need to be sorry, Jacks.”
“It’s my fault,” he gritted out.
“No it’s not. I didn’t lose my memories because you turned back time. I lost them because Apollo took them from me.”
Jacks looked murderous for a second. Then just as quickly, he shook off her words. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you died. And if you die again, I cannot bring you back.”
“So you’d rather live without me?”
“I’d rather you live.”
“I am living, Jacks, and I am not going to die anytime soon.” Evangeline closed her eyes and then she kissed him.
It was a kiss like a prayer, quiet, almost pleading, made of tremulous lips and nervous fingers. It felt like reaching out in the dark, hoping to find a light.
Jacks’s lips were slightly sweet and metallic, like apples and bloody tears as he whispered against her mouth, “You shouldn’t have done that, Little Fox.”
“It’s too late now.” She wrapped her hands around his neck, drawing him closer as she parted her lips. Slowly the tip of Jacks’s tongue slipped inside.
It was a gentler kiss than she would have imagined. Less of a fever dream and more of a secret, a whispered dangerous thing that might escape if he was too reckless. His hands were careful as they moved to her jacket. One by one, with gentle flicks of his fingers, Jacks undid the buttons.
Evangeline’s legs forgot how to work and her lungs forgot how to breathe as he slid off the jacket and let it fall to the ground.
She’d been wrong before. Her life hadn’t been full of moments leading to the Valory Arch. Every moment of everything had brought her to this place. It had taken all the heartbreak, all the almost love and the wrong love, to know that this love was true love.
Glass shattered. He’d dropped the jar—and as soon as he did, the kiss took on new life. It felt like stars colliding and worlds ending. Everything was dizzying and spinning. He kissed her harder. She held him tighter, fingers bruising on the back of his neck before slipping into his soft hair.
Evangeline never wanted to pull away. But she was starting to feel light-headed. Her eyes were closed. But she could see stars.
“Little Fox—” Jacks’s panicked voice broke the kiss.
I’m all right, she said, or she tried to say. Evangeline couldn’t quite get out the words. Her head was spinning too fast. The stars were spinning, too. Little constellations behind her eyes.
Her legs gave out.
“No!” Jacks cried.
Then Evangeline felt his arms catching her as she fell. She tried to stand, tried to move, but her head would not stop spinning.
“No!” Jacks screamed. “Not again!”
He dropped to the ground with Evangeline in his lap. She could feel his chest shaking as he held her.
Jacks—she thought his name. She couldn’t speak quite yet, but she could open her eyes again. The stars had left them and now the world was slowly coming back to focus. First the sky, all indigo and violet. Next, she saw the tree, all glowing and gold.
Then there was Jacks.
He looked angelic and anguished. His beautiful face was drained of color. Tracks of blood fell from his eyes down his pale cheeks.
“Don’t cry, my love.” She carefully wiped his tears with her fingers. “I’m all right.”
She gave him a wobbly smile.
His eyes went wide and as blue as a clear sky after a storm.
“How is this . . .” he trailed off.
It was a little endearing to watch. His sulky mouth gently parted as he seemed to forget how to speak.
“I already told you. You are the love of my life. You are mine, Jacks of the Hollow. And you’re not going to be the end of me.”
“But you were dying.”
“No,” she said, a little embarrassed. “I just forgot to breathe.”
Chapter 42
Once upon a time, there was nothing but kissing, and everything was perfect. And then there was even more kissing.
Chapter 43
Evangeline
All the heartbreak and the pain and the fear and the terror almost felt worth it, just to see the way Jacks looked at Evangeline when their first kiss ended.
She thought she knew all his looks. She’d seen his taunting, his teasing, his anger, his fear. But she’d never seen him with so much wonder in his blue eyes. They glittered as the leaves of the phoenix tree rustled with a sound that made her think of a slow exhale.
At some point, they’d moved closer to the tree. Now Jacks’s back was resting against the trunk as she rested against him. The sky had turned to dusk, but there was illumination from the tree’s glowing golden leaves. She didn’t remember the leaves glowing before, but there was enough light to see a wave of golden hair fall across Jacks’s forehead as his mouth twisted darkly and he held her a little tighter on his lap.
“You look as if you’re contemplating something I’m not going to like,” she said.
Jacks idly stroked her jaw with his fingers. “I love you,” he said simply. Then his face went abruptly serious. “I’m never going to let you out of my sight.”
“You say that as if it should be a threat.”
He continued to look at her solemnly. “This isn’t just for now, it’s for always, Little Fox.”
“I like the sound of always.” She smiled against his fingers, and then she reached up to touch his cheek, because now he was smiling, too.
And he loved her.
He loved her.
He loved her.
He loved her.
He loved her so much he’d rewritten history. He’d given up what he had believed was his only chance at love. And now he had finally broken the spell that he never thought he’d escape.
Evangeline wanted to spin in circles around the clearing and sing it all out loud for the whole world to hear, but she wasn’t ready to leave his arms. Not yet. Maybe never.
She traced one of his dimples with his fingers. “You know,” she confessed, “I’ve always loved your dimples.”
“I know.” He smirked. “You were so obvious with your love at first sight.”
“It was not love at first sight.” She huffed. “I only said I liked your dimples at the start.” She dropped her hand from his cheek. “I didn’t even like you. I thought you were terrible.”
“And yet.” He grabbed her hand again and wrapped it around his neck. “You kept staring.”
“Well . . .” She wrapped her other hand around his neck before sliding her fingers back into his hair. She really loved his hair. “I might not have liked you, but you were always ridiculously handsome.”
She gently tugged on his neck until he lowered his head and brought his lips down to hers.
For a moment, everything was perfect again.
Jacks had his heart. She had Jacks. They were in love. This was everything she wanted. This was happily ever after.